Lockheed Martin announced on 19 March that a production-version of its Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, or LRASM, had another successful test firing after it hit a stack of shipping containers aboard a boat on the Pacific Ocean.

In a hangar known as Site 2, opposite the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works on the Palmdale airport runway in California, the 60-year-old ritual of programmed depot maintenance for each of the 27 U-2S "Dragon Lady" aircraft remaining in service continues, a full decade after the US Air Force launched a series of attempts to have the fleet retired before 2020.

Israel s Lockheed Martin F-35I "Adir" is reported to have made its combat debut during strikes conducted against Syrian air defence systems last month. The action was mounted following a border clash that culminated in an Israeli air force Lockheed F-16 being shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

Drone manufacturer Kratos Defense & Security Solutions announced on 13 March that the US State Department approved sale of its Mako UTAP-22 unmanned aerial drone to undisclosed countries in Europe and Asia Pacific.

The US Air Force is likely to issue a request for proposal for its Boeing B-52H Stratofortress bomber engine replacement programme close to the first quarter of 2019, according to an Air Force document released on 13 March.

Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson may ask Congress to reallocate funds to the light-attack aircraft programme this year, a move which would accelerate the department s purchase of the aircraft by one year to 2019.

With an ongoing push to expand and improve the efficiency of its fast jet pilot training, the Royal Australian Air Force has implemented three new flight mission simulator (FMS) stations at its Williamtown Base (New South Wales) and Pearce Base (West Australia) training campuses.